Toll road: Just keep it away from Oak Cliff

When it comes down to it, that’s the biggest issue for Cliffites in the Corps of Engineers levee report that looks like it will impact the Trinity toll road. So many neighborhood movers and shakers spent so much time and energy trying to get the toll road built on the other side of the river, closer to downtown, in order to maximize the recreational aspects of the project for our neighborhood.

That’s exactly what prompted Oak Cliff resident David Lyles to voice his support for the current toll road plan in DMN’s story on this week’s hearing. He told reporters he "likes the plan because it keeps the toll road on the side of the floodway closest to downtown Dallas," and added: "That gives us in Oak Cliff the opportunity to have recreation on our side."

The story’s paraphrasing of Councilman Angela Hunt’s comments almost sounds like she was saying the exact opposite: "Hunt drew cheers … by urging that the road be built away from downtown." I didn’t think she meant that the toll road should be built adjacent to Oak Cliff — more likely she meant that it shouldn’t be built within the levees at all (and that wouldn’t take away the recreational aspects from Oak Cliff or any other part of the project, would it?) — but I emailed Hunt to make sure. "We absolutely cannot build that toll road in Oak Cliff," is what Hunt said, promising more on the topic later.

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